YOU CAN BE GOD'S LIGHT

Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. Ps 97:11 (NASB) 

• Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God's people, Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. Ps 97:11 (MSG)  

When God created the trees and the flowers, He put seeds in them, so they could produce offspring.

And he said, "Let the earth burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant, and fruit trees with seeds inside the fruit, so that these seeds will produce the kinds of plants and fruits they came from." Genesis 1:11 (TLB)  

When you received the New Life of Jesus, God changed your dead, dark spirit. God turned on the lights inside you and you began life all over again.

• By God’s mercy, love and life giving power, you became a new person, a new creation.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Cor 5:17 (NLT)  

Sometimes this change is dramatic and obvious from the outside. 

An evangelist drives demons out of a dangerous and evil person and the tormented soul believes in Jesus. The new believer is  suddenly happy and shines with the goodness of God.

Other times a person seems to change gradually. 

A prostitute came to church and believed in Jesus but returned to her old life. She kept coming to church and started to be more gentle and kind but still in the context of her life of prostitution. 

Then she began to give money to the church from her earnings. Finally she reached the point where she had the courage to walk away from prostitution and learn to live a normal life.

• Exactly when was she saved? God knows.

God uses believers to sow the seed of light and truth in the souls of men and women. 
The faith, hope and love that come with the message of light are given to you as seed. 

What will you do with the seeds of heavenly life? 

• Will you cultivate the garden of your new heavenly life, so your life becomes like window with a view of heaven itself?

• Will you sow the good seeds God gives you, so your life becomes a gateway to the garden of God, so others can find blessing and truth?

Whatever seed you sow will be multiplied in your own life and in the lives of others around you.

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Gal 6:7 (NLT)  

•  If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death; Gal 6:8 (TLB) 

• but if he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting life that the Holy Spirit gives him. 

I am sure you would love to shine with the glory of God, so if your heart is hungry for the glory of God, be like the insects that come to the light. 
The light of God will not burn and destroy you if you love Jesus. 

Come into the wonderful presence of God and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through His life giving words. 

When God Himself speaks, it changes the way you understand the Bible.

• We cannot be a blessing to others if we teach the Bible with a dry religious spirit.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:6 (NIV)

When we receive the light and joy of Jesus, we know Him as the light of the world.

 

... Jesus said to the people, "I am the Light of the world. So if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path." Jn 8:12 (TLB)

Then we ourselves can shine from the life of Jesus within us.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. Isa 60:1 (ESV)  

RELIGION SAYS "STAY" JESUS SAYS "GO"

Genesis 2:8 (NKJV)  The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 

I just heard a TV preacher expound on this text. It was dangerous nonsense.

• God planted a garden for Adam and put Adam in the garden. 

“Therefore wherever you are is where God has put you and it is where you are supposed to be.”

.....REALLY? 

God called Jonah to preach in Nineveh but he disobeyed.

Jonah 1:3 (NKJV)   But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He ... found a ship going to Tarshish...and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

• How many of us are living mediocre Christian lives because we have not listened to the voice of God when HE has called us TO GO? 

How often have you heard preachers teach this strange idea?

• “If you are in this church, it must be because God has planted you here and therefore you must not leave or go anywhere else.”

Then they quote Scripture to make the teaching or prophetic utterance appear true.

Ps 1:3 (NKJV)  He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. 

The text is then expounded like this.

“A tree is planted in one place permanently. A tree does not uproot itself and move from place to place, so you should stay in this congregation permanently.” 

IS THIS TRUE???

The Bible gives us examples of people who lived by faith and we are supposed to follow their example. 

• Abraham was a wanderer, sent out by God to seek the Promised Land.

• Moses was sent to lead the Hebrews out of bondage and go to the Promised Land.

• Paul was an itinerant preacher and Apostle.

Jesus said:

Mt 28:19 (NKJV)  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... 

• The Great Commission is not a commandment to stay where you are!

Many local churches send out missionaries and support them but many do not. 

There are preachers who emphasise staying where you are.

• They are ministers of spiritual death, not life.

Pr 18:21 (NKJV)  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. 

• The false doctrine of staying is death to the souls of people who are not being reached.

• The false doctrine of staying is death to the God given destiny of church members. 

• The false doctrine of staying is death to the spiritual gifting of Christians who are persuaded to be busy in their home church rather than training for overseas mission, writing books, ministering on TV or publishing gospel literature. 

Jesus says GO but the ungodly spirit of control over many churches deceives Christians and persuades them to STAY. 

The false spirit of religion tells Christians the pastor has a vision to fill the building with church members, so they should give up their own visions and be busy in church.

God likes to see buildings full of believers but filling church buildings is not an end in itself.

Every believer in a church meeting has a God given destiny to change the world outside the church. 

When church leaders concentrate on filling buildings they miss the whole point of the Kingdom of God.

• The dream of a pastor might be to preach to a crowded building 

• ....but the dream of God is to send multitudes of believers into a lost world to love the lost, heal the sick and demonstrate the creative goodness of God outside the church.

Is it right to attack the teaching of ordained pastors and preachers? 

A lot of the teaching of Jesus and Paul was a reaction to bad teaching in their own day. 

• Nothing has changed.

• You are planted by Rivers of Waters, the Washing of the Word of God, which is in your heart wherever you go.

• You are called to drink from the waters of the River of Life, which is the Holy Spirit, who empowers you to GO!